I occasionally think to myself that some operation would be a lot easier (or even become possible) if I had a CNC router setup. But they're kind of expensive, and I don't have experience with computer modeling, and I'm not sure how often I'd actually use the thing. I'm also not sure how much I'd enjoy it... I like this hobby because I like doing things by hand, which CNC diminishes. I don't know though, so I thought I'd toss out a few questions for y'all.

Do you have a CNC router? How often do you use it? Are the cost and space requirements justified? What kind of stuff have you used it for? Do you enjoy using it? Is it "real" woodworking?

- very flexible --- I can work up a setup to make a part which would be multiple setups on a table saw and router table (or involve quite a bit of cutting by hand and using specialty planes) - noisier than using hand tools - it's much more pleasant to use with a good dust collection setup

How do you currently draw up plans? If you use a CAD tool or a vector editor you're halfway there. You may want to consider SketchUp